I've used Skype for a while, but finally removed it from my computers and closed the account permanently last week. I wasn't able to read story after story of creepy surveillance abuses and keep something like this on my machine.

For anyone else closing their account I found a surprisingly easy way to do it (Skype deliberately makes it difficult to do from the website, instead preferring that you just log out and stop using it. Plus, every time I clicked on the chat link for support I got an error page).

I had a photo I took as my profile picture. I own the copyright to it. I did a quick search for the magic words 'Agent for service of process Skype' and came up with two email addresses. Try it yourself, it's easy. I sent a short, polite email asking that my account be permanently closed and deleted, along with my (copyrighted) profile image.

It's a good sign that they still have employee surveys. My company stopped them 5 years ago because the trend was clear. If you cannot get good management reviews stop asking. (very dilbert)

Oh and Skype got better again. After the first disastrous android app which was designed by someone who has clearly NEVER used it the new version is actually halfway usable. (still not good)

And still the main windows app sucks as well. Just one example Why in gods name is there no list of past numbers called in the phone menu. You have to go to the recent tab. If you don't find it go back to the phone tab and start typing the number.

Thanks to this acquisition, I had to switch my mom from msn messenger to google talk. She manages to make video calls with Skype but there is no way she gets that you can get ims with it.

I have to strongly disagree with that statement about being very easy for soccer moms.

That's the same point made by the article. It used to be that easy to use, before the eBay and Microsoft acquisitions. Now their original angel investor struggled for 30 minutes to get it working (and then gave up) while being interviewed for this story.

I'm incensed about Skype's backdoor to NSA but I'm even more incensed about the telecoms fleecing hundreds of billions of dollars from ordinary people (most likely in the trillions by now) AND being in bed with NSA.

Skype is a lesser evil and I hope to see AT&T and Verizon going under in my lifetime.

" [That's] not like in Microsoft, which has a very lazy programming environment, where programs are created that have memory leaks and all sorts of problems, that crash all the time and no one really cares—because it's Microsoft!"

Thanks to this acquisition, I had to switch my mom from msn messenger to google talk. She manages to make video calls with Skype but there is no way she gets that you can get ims with it.

I have to strongly disagree with that statement about being very easy for soccer moms.

That's the same point made by the article. It used to be that easy to use, before the eBay and Microsoft acquisitions. Now their original angel investor struggled for 30 minutes to get it working (and then gave up) while being interviewed for this story.

Eh, it's always had problems. For example we used to hold meetings via Skype. Someone would have to spend half their time just re-adding people who got disconnected. It wasn't until recently that they had the crazy idea to automatically reconnect people who had been disconnected and who were now trying to call back. How hard was it to think of that?

Why did it succeed? Maybe the programmers were fairly good, but I think in the end the success came because the big companies were too focused on keeping data and voice separate. It turns out data is just data. Which is to say, no one competed with Skype on price for international and conference calls. They weren't great, but they were super cheap. It's still happening, e.g. Jurvetson mentions the carriers not wanting wifi phones. And while conference calls are still an option through Skype and various other programs now, I still don't know of any good way to do them over the phone. I guess there might be one.

" [That's] not like in Microsoft, which has a very lazy programming environment, where programs are created that have memory leaks and all sorts of problems, that crash all the time and no one really cares—because it's Microsoft!"

I'm so shocked! \ eyes rolling.

Yeah and that's why MS Lync only uses 1/3 of the memory footprint that Skype does.

" [That's] not like in Microsoft, which has a very lazy programming environment, where programs are created that have memory leaks and all sorts of problems, that crash all the time and no one really cares—because it's Microsoft!"

I'm so shocked! \ eyes rolling.

Yeah and that's why MS Lync only uses 1/3 of the memory footprint that Skype does.

I'm a small entrepreneur of one of the first E-learning companies in Latin America (Chile, to be precise) and, when we started (we teach English and Spanish around the world) in 1999 we had to develop our own software to teach in the most natural way available. Then Skype came in and we found most of our students felt more comfortable using that software than our own or other alternatives simply because it is easier to use and the quality of calls are good enough. http://www.e-learninginstitute.com/ is now one of the easiest ways to learn English or Spanish at home and thanks I believe to Skype (because of the reasons already mentioned) our students score well above the standars on international tests. IMO, if it wasn't for this kind of technology, many people would've missed the chance to communicate in an affordable and easy way.

I have to strongly disagree with that statement about being very easy for soccer moms.

Well, does your mother play soccer?

The appropriate question would be: "Does or did your mom drive her kids around to athletic events, particularly soccer." Some evidence would include a minivan or large SUV, equipment bags, etc.

You must be a lot of fun at parties.

Sorry I had to get a Princess Bride reference in for the week. Also there's enough humor to go around regarding soccer moms and minivans etc.

Of course you end up seeing all of this in a different light once you're in your thirties and have children. Children who might play soccer or some other sport. Have I terrified you yet, or have you already crossed this threshold and realized it's part of life?

This story is pretty sad in it's failure to just briefly mention Gnutella and standard VoIP applications. Both of which pre-date Kazaa and Skype, and are superior in many ways. Instead TFA makes it sound like these guys invented... something...

It would be infinitely more interesting if there was some discussion of WHY these programs got popular, in the face of numerous available superior alternatives.

Skype is a lesser evil and I hope to see AT&T and Verizon going under in my lifetime.

Why not use an open source VOIP client with encryption you control (are there any public-key cryptography VOIP apps, for example?)

I don't know if there are any PKI VOIP applications, but the standard-bearer for encrypted VOIP seems to ZRTP. There are several clients that support it.

I recommend Jitsi, a FOSS, multi-platform client that supports VOIP with ZRTP for encryption, as well as text and video chatting, and even video conference calling (which is a premium feature for Skype). You can set up a free SIP account with iptel.org. Jitsi also supports XMPP and several other IM protocols, and OTR.

I was working abroad in 2004 for two years and started to use Skype a lot during that time. It was really great to talk to family and friends without having to pay a fortune. I am now working abroad again but my Skype usage dropped to almost zero as the service doesn't work as seemlessly as it used to do. There are frequent disconnects and the call/video quality is really poor for me. What seems really strange , though, is that the quality drastically improves if I route my call through a VPN; sound is immediately getting crystal clear and video becomes acceptable quality. This makes me wonder what is going on when Skype connects directly. I'm not sure who would be to blame for it, as I'm in China. Maybe their internet surveillance messes with it, or it is something within Skype, in any case it doesn't make me feel comfortable.

When I use Facetime there are no such problems, it has always very good voice and video quality.

The Bluemoon boys began encrypting all of their correspondence and their hard drives. E-mails were not stored for longer than six months. No one wanted to know more than they absolutely needed to know. Zennström changed his phone number as often as he changed his socks.

I was working abroad in 2004 for two years and started to use Skype a lot during that time. It was really great to talk to family and friends without having to pay a fortune. I am now working abroad again but my Skype usage dropped to almost zero as the service doesn't work as seemlessly as it used to do. There are frequent disconnects and the call/video quality is really poor for me. What seems really strange , though, is that the quality drastically improves if I route my call through a VPN; sound is immediately getting crystal clear and video becomes acceptable quality. This makes me wonder what is going on when Skype connects directly. I'm not sure who would be to blame for it, as I'm in China. Maybe their internet surveillance messes with it, or it is something within Skype, in any case it doesn't make me feel comfortable.

When I use Facetime there are no such problems, it has always very good voice and video quality.

Quoting Wikipedia: "In 2012, Microsoft altered the design of the network, and brought all supernodes under their control as hosted servers in data centres.[3] Microsoft at the time defended the move, saying they "believe this approach has immediate performance, scalability and availability benefits for the hundreds of millions of users that make up the Skype community."[4] At the time there was some concern regarding the privacy implications of the change,[5] which appear to have been vindicated with the revelation of the PRISM surveillance program in June 2013.[6][7]"

If those servers are not in China (speculative but does not seem unreasonable to think), it would stand to reason that routing your communications through them will make the data path much, much longer and likely less stable. Whereas when it was previously operating in peer-to-peer mode, it could have relied only on local peers. Also, bonus! By routing through the US, you get to be eavesdropped on by both the US and China.

I don't understand how routing data through centralized servers could improve the quality of voice transmission, over communicating peer-to-peer. The most direct route should be the fastest, meaning less lag and fewer dropped packets.

I don't understand how routing data through centralized servers could improve the quality of voice transmission, over communicating peer-to-peer. The most direct route should be the fastest, meaning less lag and fewer dropped packets.

Skype if it launched today would never fly. Drop outs are frequent, and they aren't fixing bugs people have been complaining about on forums for years. Entrepreneurs want to succeed and work hard to make sure customers are happy. Turn big and hire clockpunching chair warmers and this is what happens.

I wonder if there's a study on how many long-distance relationships Skype saved. It certainly safed mine...

Probably quite a few -- can't say it saved mine since it was doomed regardless, but Skype & AIM video-chat were extremely useful when I was in a long-term relationship with a guy on the other side of the country.

I wonder if there's a study on how many long-distance relationships Skype saved. It certainly safed mine...

Probably quite a few -- can't say it saved mine since it was doomed regardless, but Skype & AIM video-chat were extremely useful when I was in a long-term relationship with a guy on the other side of the country.

'Prolonged' might be a better word than 'saved' for a lot of long-distance relationships. Mine was doomed (and fun) from the start as she was on the other side of the world.

The first time I tried Skype was in high school (2002-2005), and it has always been sort of buggy. It comes and goes though, I still use it a from time to time, and my general impression is that it's slightly better than it used to be. The UI has become a bit of a mess though.

This story is pretty sad in it's failure to just briefly mention Gnutella and standard VoIP applications. Both of which pre-date Kazaa and Skype, and are superior in many ways. Instead TFA makes it sound like these guys invented... something...

It would be infinitely more interesting if there was some discussion of WHY these programs got popular, in the face of numerous available superior alternatives.

What a bunch of baloney. Sorry.

It's true that Kazaa wasn't particularly good, however compared to Gnutella it was much easier to use - almost to the level of Napster in "just working"(tm) and working fast. While Gnutella was generally much slower to download and less userfriendly for a novice user.

And Skype was revolutionary for what the article mentions - just WORKING - even for people with no technical skill whatsoever. A critical component to success for something trying to muscle out an ordinary household item like the common phone. Standard VoIP applications at the time typically required messing with port forwards, complicated setups (for the average user) and a lot of time spent troubleshooting (or were expensive - attempts by various telcos like the example named in the article about the Estonian telco)

Your statement is either ignorant or based in a complete inability to understand that most people are not very technically minded, and that this matters a great deal to the potential success of any product or application.